No distress indication from pilot: Airport Authority of India

Visibility at the Mangalore airport where an Air India flight crashed on Saturday was more than required and there was "no distress indication" from the pilot of the plane, officials said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation will conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident, they said.

The visibility was 6 km, which is "more than that required", when the ill-fated plane landed in Mangalore, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman V P Agarwal said in Delhi hours after the mishap.

"There was no distress indication from the pilot of the ill-fated plane," he said.

Replying to a volley of questions, Agarwal said, "no constructional deficiencies were noticed" and that authorities had conducted all necessary safety checks at the airport before the runway which has been operational since 2006.

In Mumbai, Air India Director (Operations) Anup Srivastava said the plane overshot the runway after it landed at the airport, resulting in the mishap.

Eight passengers of the ill-fated plane from Dubai survived the crash.

"There were 160 passengers, including four infants, and six crew on board plane. Eight persons survived the crash," he said.